A proposal allowing people to refinance student loan debt is before Congress.

THE STAKES:

The $1.08 trillion in such debt is dragging down individuals, their families and our economy.

Education, especially post-secondary, has long been understood to be the primary path to the American Dream or, at least, reliable employment, safe and secure housing and a full pantry. Higher education and certificate training are the bootstraps for a younger generation of people trying to pull themselves up.

But since 2008, those bootstraps have been increasingly made out of lead, pulling down not only the young but their families, too.

Student loan debt has ballooned to $1.08 trillion, up $114 billion from a year ago, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It has eclipsed auto loan and credit card debt, making student loans the largest form of consumer debt outside of mortgages.

Graduates in New York had an average student loan debt of $27,310 in 2012. In the Capital Region, nearly one in 10 graduates were delinquent on their repayments.

Yet interest rates on student loan debt have stubbornly remained at pre-recession levels while other forms of government-subsidized debt, like 30-year fixed mortgages, have dropped.

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And our economy is suffering because of it. The Federal Reserve noted in April 2013 that those with student loan debt are less likely to borrow to buy a home or a car. Two million more adults ages 18 to 34 were living with their parents than before the recession, yet a new household leads to an estimated $145,000 of economic activity, according to Moody's Analytics.

U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand doubled down this week on the proposal she first floated last year that would give people drowning in such debt the chance to refinance. The Federal Student Loan Refinancing Act would enable those with interest rates on their debt above 4 percent to refinance at a fixed rate of 4 percent, lowering monthly payments.

Our country has more people than ever seeking higher education. Enrollment in degree-granting institutions increased 37 percent between 2000 and 2010, to 21 million. Yet tuition and fees for public and private institutions have essentially tripled since 1973, rising somewhat more slowly, by about 8 percent, since the recession. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, bachelor's degree holders between the ages of 20 and 24 saw average unemployment nearly double since 2007.

We need this and future generations to believe they have a path to prosperity — not a cliff leading to an impassable gorge of high debt and unemployment. Giving people the ability to refinance debt — especially debt that's inescapable even after bankruptcy — is smart.

Our federal government needs to work with Sen. Gillibrand to transform those bootstraps into something more buoyant.